


Much Needed Rest

by redneval



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, College, Domestic Fluff, Enemies to Friends to Lovers, Fluff, Friends to Lovers, Harry takes care of Draco, M/M, Slow Burn, Study Group, also there's cursing, harry is v sweet, nobody sleeps, self-care, whoops
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-05-05
Updated: 2020-05-05
Packaged: 2021-03-02 23:47:14
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,014
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24015427
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/redneval/pseuds/redneval
Summary: Harry and Draco are reluctant group project partners, working on a case for their law studies class. Draco hasn't slept in about 48 years, and Harry has a problem with that...
Relationships: Draco Malfoy/Harry Potter
Comments: 1
Kudos: 23





	1. Chapter 1

DRACO / 3:24 AM:

Hey Potter. Hopefully this doesn’t wake you up. Do you have those statements I let you look at last week for the case? I can’t find them in my backpack and I need to look at them to finish this section. 

LMK when you get this

HARRY / 3:26 AM: 

yooo malfoy why you still up!! it’s sunday morning nowww!! but yeah i have em where u at i can bring them there

DRACO / 3:30 AM: 

I needed to get work done. I’m in a room in the library but someone else booked it for 4:00AM so I’m going back to my apartment. Can I swing by yours and pick it up? 

HARRY / 3:31 AM:

bruv what kind of psycho books a library room starting at 4am wtffff

that’s finals for u i guess

but yes you can swing by & snatch it. it’s apt 934 

DRACO / 3:33 AM: 

Alright, I’m on my way. Thanks 

HARRY / 3:33 AM:

np my man

  
\-----------------------------------------------------------

Draco knocked on Harry’s door. “Potter, it’s me.”

The door whisked open abruptly. A strangely energetic Harry was standing on the other side. “Hey Malfoy! I have the files but I also think I found something and I need to ask you about it, do you just want to come in?”

Draco sighed. “Sure. What did you find?”

“Well, we’ve been working under the assumption that Ruth did not see Peyton cross the bridge, but I think they did? It’s in line 230-something…” Harry started rifling through a set of papers. 

“Here! Line 238, Ruth says, “I saw who I now know to be Jaden crossing the bridge, and heard footsteps about ten minutes later.” And  _ here _ , a line after that, “when I looked up it was the twelve-year old girl from earlier limping across the bridge.” 

“Well shit.”

“Right?!?! I think it was in one of the case changes and we just didn’t notice. But do you think we’ll have to do a major reconstruction of our case theory because of this?”

Draco slumped and pinched the bridge of his nose. “Probably. We can’t exactly ignore it because other teams will run it into the ground. Do you have a, um…” Draco responded, glancing around the apartment, “do you have a whiteboard or something?”

“Yes, I do. Do you want to just work here? I wasn’t planning on sleeping for a while.” 

“Might as well,” Draco shrugged. “It should be more productive anyhow.” 

And so Draco and Harry settled in and started working. Draco claimed the corner spot of the couches, and Harry spread out on the floor, papers strewn around him and his laptop glowing in front of him. The boys would consult each other on a new idea from time to time, asking which phrasing was better or whether they should structure an argument differently. 

_ Malfoy seems rather… docile tonight. He’s usually quite a bit snappier, but he’s almost diluted right now. I hope he’s alright. I don’t exactly miss the temper but... he seems really out of it.  _

“Hey Malfoy, can you read over this direct? Is this question odd?”

“Hmm, let me have a look…” Malfoy plopped next to Harry on the floor and leaned over him to see the laptop screen. “I think the phrasing here is excellent, there’s no way to answer that diplomatically. Hmm, but this question…” Draco tapered off and swayed slightly to the right, eyes flickering shut. “Ugh, sorry.” He said, shaking himself. “I think that question is unnecessary.” 

Harry finally mustered up the courage to ask, “Are you alright? You seem rather tired.”

Malfoy replied drily, saying, “I suppose that would make sense, I haven’t really slept for the last two days. But I’ll be alright, thanks.”

“Merlin’s beard, that’s insane! That is so bad for you, you should sleep, Malfoy!”

“Potter. I’ll have you know that there are not enough hours in the day for me to get all of my work done  _ and _ take care of myself, and I was raised to know which is more important. I need to finish the direct for Washington, the cross for Grant, and look over the phrasing in my opening, and we have that meeting with the captain at 11:00 a.m., and that’s in about... “

Draco checked his watch and sighed a little.

“That’s in about six hours. So while I appreciate the concern,” 

_ That’s not a very appreciative tone, Malfoy. _

“I must get my work done.” 

Harry shook his head. “At least take a twenty minute nap. If you’re passing out while reading my crosses it’s not going to help anything. Just set an alarm.” 

“...fine. I agree that I’m not getting much done.” Draco slowly stood up, rubbing his temples. “Do you have a blanket I could borrow? It’s rather chilly in your apartment.”

“Oh, right, of course! Let me grab one from my room.” Harry sprinted out of the living room to his bedroom, emerging soon after with a pillow and a soft, dark green blanket. “Here you go! Rest easy now.”

Malfoy rolled his eyes, plopped the pillow on the couch, wrapped himself in the blanket, set an alarm to go off in twenty minutes, and promptly passed out.


	2. Chapter 2

Twenty minutes passed quickly. But when Draco’s alarm went off he didn’t move a muscle. After two minutes of Radar, Harry finally lost it and turned off the alarm. “Malfoy.”

Nothing. 

“Malfoy… your alarm went off.”

Still nothing. 

“...Draco?”

Was that a twitch of an eyelid? Harry couldn’t tell. 

Harry paused for a moment, staring. _I can tell he needs the sleep. But he would kill me if I let him waste all that time… although he did practically give me his to-do list. And I know his style, so I think I could write his directs and crosses easily enough, even look over his opening._

Draco murmured softly and shifted his head.

_Yeah, alright, I’ll just do his work and let him sleep. Besides, he’s got to make up for all the snarking he didn’t do tonight, and this’ll give him something to yell about._

_Plus he looks rather peaceful right now._

Harry ignored the warm feeling in his chest as he watched Draco sleep, and turned back to his laptop. 

A couple hours later, somewhere around 7am, Harry and Draco received a text. 

O CAPTAIN MY CAPTAIN / 7:18 AM: 

Hello my precious teammates and coworkers. Although I usually love to have meetings with your lovely faces, my roommate has been throwing up all night and now that she's passed out I can rest. I am planning to sleep until at least 3pm. 

In other words, this week’s meeting is postponed. I trust you two to get your work done, as I see you’ve both been working on your crosses and directs in the Google Drive tonight.

Work matters, but make sure you get some sleep, yeah?

Best, 

Pansy

_Well_ , Harry thought, _that’s another few hours of decent sleep for Malfoy. And now that I’ve finished all the work I needed to…_ I _can take a decent nap! It’s not like_ my _sleep schedule is fucked._

Harry laughed to himself, and then started to put the statements and laptop away. Harry’s sleep schedule, while abysmal the majority of the year, always stabilized in an odd way around finals. He slept, and slept enough, but when finals rolled around he slept for 5 hours at a time, twice a day. It was much more convenient, and he found it to be more productive that way. 

Harry headed for his bedroom, ready to sleep.

…and he woke, a bit more than 5 hours later, to a silent apartment. Harry shot up in bed, thinking, _Bloody Merlin, I left Draco Malfoy asleep on my couch without a word of explanation as to why I let him sleep through his alarm, he’s never going to talk to me again, he’s probably left hate mail in my living room, what have I DONE,_ but these thoughts were interrupted when he opened the bedroom door and saw one Draco Malfoy, still peacefully passed out on his living room couch. 

Harry checked the time; it was now noon thirty, and sunlight was streaming in through the living room window, illuminating perfectly blond hair and flawless skin. 

_Huh. I guess he REALLY needed to sleep._

Draco shivered.

_Oh, he did say my apartment was cold. I’ll grab him a hoodie._

So Harry traipsed back to his room, grabbed one of his hoodies, and then returned to the living room. _Might as well make breakfast,_ Harry thought as he absentmindedly threw the hoodie over Draco. 

Draco woke up to unexpected sunlight, a hoodie haphazardly thrown over him on top of his blanket, and the smell of pancakes and bacon. 

“What on earth…? What is _this_?” He mumbled, holding up the hoodie with a look of total confusion. “And what time is it oH MY GOOD LORD WE MISSED THE MEETING WHAT THE HELL HAPPENED YOU LITTLE FUCK WHY DID I J U S T WAKE UP WHAT THE HELL HAPPENED Y-”

“Draco.”

Draco stopped mid-yell, taken aback. “What?”

“Pansy cancelled the meeting, you slept through your alarm, and I finished the work that you told me about. That’s a hoodie, you said you were cold earlier so put it on. Do you want strawberries with your pancakes?”

“Why would she cancel the meeting?! And I’ll have to look through everything again anyways, I really would have preferred to do it all myself, you know.”

Harry sighed. “Trust me, I know. But I know your style, I think you’ll like it all. Pansy’s roommate has been throwing up all night. She also said you should sleep in her email to us. Put on the hoodie and tell me if you want strawberries on your pancakes.”

Silence.

Harry looked up from the counter. “What?”

“Why are you taking care of me?”

“Who said I’m taking care of you?” Harry smirked, turning back to the strawberries. 

“I did, you let me sleep and did all my work and gave me this _sweatshirt_ and you’re making me breakfast, why the hell are you being nice to me?”

Harry sighed and looked up after a minute. “Cause I like you, you’re a good partner. And you weren’t mean to me at all last night and that made me really worried. _Do you_ __w_ ant strawberries or not? _And put the bloody hoodie on already, you’re shivering.”

“Oh.” Draco stared as Harry returned to his cooking. “Yes, I’d like strawberries,” he finally forced out as he put the hoodie. It was so warm. And it smelled like… Harry. Draco sat on a stool by the counter and plopped his chin into his hands. 

“So…” Draco smirked, “you like it when I’m mean to you?”

Harry dropped his knife and coughed, then, “No! Um, no. It was just out of character and I got a bit worried.”

“Ahh, alright.”

Not a word more was spoken as Harry served Draco a plate of pancakes with strawberries, syrup, and powdered sugar on top, with bacon on the side. They ate at the counter in unexpectedly comfortable silence, until finally Harry said, “I hate to ask you to work on anything right now, but could you look over the work I did last night? I’m pretty sure I got your style down but I’d like some feedback.” 

“Um, yeah, alright. Let me get my laptop.” 

Draco got up, put his plate and fork in the sink, and went back to the couch. “By the way, excellent choice in couch. This thing was an exceptional bed, as unwilling as my sleep was.”

Harry snorted. “Thanks, Malfoy. I’ll treasure that forever.”

“Of course you will, my opinion _is_ priceless.” Draco settled into the couch with his computer in his lap, legs crossed and back straight.

_I wonder if I'll ever see him that vulnerable_ _again,_ Harry wondered as he compared the very awake Draco to the peaceful Draco earlier that day. Awake Draco was very guarded. 

_Maybe one day._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> yay second chapter !! i think harry is v sweet in this one. draco's a dense little man. anyways, the next chapter will take a while but i hope u all liked these first two :)!!!

**Author's Note:**

> thanks for reading, everyone! i will update Very Soon. it's unlikely that this will be super long as i haven't really written  
> anything before, but it should at least be interesting :) lmk what you think!


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